Take Me Out to the Ballgame
Although baseball would never be my first choice, Dan determined that we should go as a family to a Nats game tonight. He reminded me that my first date with my husband had been to an Orioles game, so just for old time’s sake, he said I should go with them. That would make my second Nats game and my second regular season game with my husband. At this rate I will probably see just one more game before I die – now there’s a reassuring thought.I spent the first inning learning how to take pictures with my new phone. That seemed a productive thing to do. Of course I recognized that there would still be a problem of how to retrieve the pictures from my phone, but that would happen later.
I confirmed that baseball has to be the slowest game in the world. No wait, that might actually be golf. For some reason I like watching golf a lot better than baseball. Maybe it’s because I know how to play golf and I could never hit the ball worth crap when I was a kid. I could catch it even without a glove, but hitting was never my forte. I concluded later that it was probably because I was astigmatic even back then and so I could never see the ball correctly as it approached the plate. Whatever, I inevitably struck out and no one wanted to pick me for their team.
The game tonight ended at 7-6 with the Pirates winning. I concluded that the pitchers really made the biggest difference and we saw a whole lot of them tonight. It seemed like both teams were forever changing pitchers.
I’m always amazed at the enthusiasm of the crowd, even when the home team is losing by a bunch of runs. They cheer, they dance, they drink more beer, and they stomp their feet. It’s good to see the very young and the very old, black and white, all mixed up together watching our national sport. If I tried just a littler harder, I could probably learn to enjoy baseball. I probably could even become a loyal fan. But I must confess tonight I didn’t even really care who won as long as the game wasn’t tied at the end of the 9th inning.
posted by Barbara at 11:08 PM
7 Comments:
Is that a pic of Dan? What a cutie!!! Brains and good looks-- wow!!
Baseball. is. the. slowest. game. ever. hands down.
DC United's got a faster game for you. Not as good for a date though if you're always too distracted by the game to talk.
Did you fill out your scorecard? The fact that they give you something like that to pass the time with should've been a clue.
I've never been to a cricket match, but they're reported to be slower.
Anon -- Yep, that's Dan. He is very cute, but maybe I'm prejudiced.
Ulysses -- I used to like watching soccer when the kids played. David filled something out last night -- must have been the "scorecard"; I was still learning about my phone at that point and wasn't paying attention. I don't think I would like cricket. Does anyone here play it?
I love baseball for the experience, if not the game. I'm weird, though.
Kristin -- I'm starting to think it might be the food and the music and the crowd and the beer that attracts people. There's a real community spirit when everyone stands up for the 7th inning stretch and sings "Take me out to the ballgame".
We all must remember that the Nats are not one of the better paid teams at this point. But Dan says they are going about building the team wisely, currently trying to cultivate a good farm team system. So in the future the game itself may improve.
That wasn't a scorecard - it wss an All-star game ballot. I just had to cast another vote for Maglio Ordonez - go Tigers!
I started going to ball games when I was about 5 years old. I have great memories of going to Briggs stadium (aka Tiger Stadium when tey renamed it) with my dad. We used to get there at least an hour before the game so we could watch batting practice.
It was very exciting for me. Guess it still is. If you ever happen to go to a game when the home team wins in the bottom of the 9th, you'll understand.
I've only been to one Blue Jays game at Skydome in Toronto and it was pretty neat, although it sure isn't as fast as hockey!
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